Governor Greg Abbott has issued a directive to pause new data center connections to the Texas electric grid, mandating an audit of these projects before any approvals can proceed. This order was communicated in a letter to the state's Public Utility Commission and the Electric Reliability Council, which oversees the grid that serves most of Texas.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) is currently monitoring over 1,800 projects in its interconnection queue, totaling more than 474 gigawatts of requested capacity, which exceeds five times the grid's peak demand. Approximately 90 percent of these requests are attributed to data centers. The interconnection queue has seen rapid growth, increasing from 233 gigawatts in January.
The Dallas-Fort Worth area, recognized as the second largest data center market in the U.S., is significantly impacted by this pause. Analysts predict that Texas could surpass Northern Virginia to become the largest data center market globally by 2030. In total, at least 248 data center projects are planned statewide, with North Texas home to 26 large campuses currently tracked.
The audits will require data on electricity demand, water usage, on-site generation plans, noise and light controls, tax incentives claimed, and the ownership structure, as well as potential impacts on nearby communities. Abbott's office had previously requested some of this information voluntarily, but the lack of responses led to the decision for mandatory audits. No timeline for the completion of these audits has been provided.
